The Web or how to get buggy software

‘Remember how exciting these Net upgrades used to be?’ This
appeared in Need to Know (http://www.ntk.net) when commenting
about the availability of the beta of FrontPage 98, the final version of
Netcaster and DirectX 5.0. I do, and I even remember before the Web when
software was sent on CD-ROM and before that on floppy disks (3"1/2, 5"1/4 and
vaguely the time of the 8"). Back then the difference between alpha, beta and
final versions was clear. Commercial software meant final.

Today, you can buy some beta versions, often called Previews just to
muddle things further. Instead of hiring staff to release software with no
known bugs many (if not most) companies rely on wide Web distribution of early
code to find bugs. Versions 1.0 are as transient as the pre-final ones, a Web
year later – ie 3 months later at most – there's an update and
so on.

End-users are always at least a few versions late when they're lucky,
or if they have an Internet connection often have a non-working computer.
Developers are working with (too) many betas and have to maintain compatibility
with the version of the day. They spend too much time downloading betas, and
then looking for patches. Maybe if the source of commercial applications was
available to read, software houses would be more careful as to what they
release as their reputation might depend on it.